International Law Journals in English Outside the US or English-Speaking Countries

I’ve wanted to mention for a while that international law scholars might want to keep in mind the surprisingly large number of English language international journals that publish outside the United States or English-speaking countries such as those places where KJH hangs out.  It’s been on my mind as I have a piece coming out later on this year from the Gottingen (umlauts, I know!) Journal of International Law (GoJIL).  It’s a new online law journal, and I’ve been reading it, first on account of my own piece appearing there, and then because I thought it quite interesting – the second issue is devoted to Russia and international law, for example.

I realize that scholars these days tend to be quite rankings-focused in their scholarly placement.  I tend not to be, alas, not because the rankings of the journal don’t interest me, but because the thought of simply sending a piece around to a hundred different law journals somehow dismays me.  So I don’t, and either write solely when commissioned or when I have a specific piece for a specific topic journal (if any law journal wants to talk with me about what I’m doing and if it sounds interesting, that would be fine, too, but I won’t write on spec but only on commission).  That’s just me, though, and I don’t recommend it as a career-enhancer, especially to junior folks.

But if you are willing to look beyond the narrow US rankings, there are a surprising number of journals out there that might get you an audience that you would not otherwise have in a standard venue in the US.  You might also find that you are able to do some different things with your scholarship.  I had written, for example, a lengthy review essay on the United Nations and Paul Kennedy’s ‘Parliament of Man’ book in Spanish for the Madrid Revista de Libros, and had an English version that I had updated and revised – very different from the Spanish language version and certainly much longer with a scholarly apparatus attached to it.  I mentioned (here at OJ – the power of blogging!!) that I had this piece available if someone wanted to discuss publication in English, and the student editors at Gottingen contacted me.  I was intrigued, as I had rarely published, or thought to publish, in a law journal outside the US.  The experience has been great, and my congratulations to the Gottingen editors for an exceptionally professional editing job.  But I suspect there are many other journals out there, on the Continent and elsewhere that would be great places and experiences for publication.

If editors of English language journals outside of the US and English-speaking countries wanted to mention themselves in the comments, feel free.  If you’re an author and you’ve had experience publishing outside the usual venues as discussed above, curious to find out how you found it.